XLIII Scientific Instrument Symposium - SIC 2024

Session Chair: Edward Gillin (University College London, UK)

Chaîne opératoire : outil méthodologique d’étude du fonctionnement d’une institution scientifique
Auteur: Julien Gressot
L’étude du fonctionnement des institutions scientifiques s’est développée ces dernières années avec en particulier le croisement de l’analyse des sources manuscrites avec celle de la culture matérielle. Le concept de chaîne opératoire est une proposition méthodologique favorisant l’étude d’une institution scientifique dans sa globalité incluant les opérations techniques, matérielles, pratiques ou encore cognitives permettant, en bout de chaîne, d’obtenir des données précises. Il permet d’attirer l’attention sur l’intérêt d’étudier les instruments scientifiques en tant qu’ensemble opératoire permettant d’obtenir une donnée précise plutôt qu’en tant qu’entité isolée.

Utile pour comprendre les modalités de faire science, le concept attire également l’attention sur des opérations ou des instruments scientifiques généralement moins considérés car semblant d’une importance moindre. Ainsi cette proposition méthodologique entend faciliter à la fois la compréhension des phénomènes historiques mais permet aussi aux conservateurs-restaurateurs et aux muséologues un outil de médiation. Pouvant servir comme moyen heuristique ainsi que de synthèse permettant la comparaison entre différentes institutions ou différentes époques au sein d’un établissement, cette présentation entend aborder les apports et les limites du concept de chaîne opératoire en s’appuyant sur le cas de l’Observatoire cantonal de Neuchâtel.

Après une exploration de l’origines du concept, notamment par l’ethnologue préhistorien André Leroi-Gourhan et de son passage de l’archéologie à l’histoire des sciences, l’utilisation du concept sera exemplifiée à partir de l’Observatoire cantonal de Neuchâtel.

The Many Links in a Chain: Operating the Stockholm Observatory’s Ertel Meridian Circle, 1834-1931
Author: Johan Kärnfelt
In the 1820s, the Stockholm Observatory significantly upgraded its instrumentation. Among the new additions was a meridian circle, crafted by Traugott Ertel in Munich, which after considerable delay was installed at the observatory in 1834. This instrument featured a doublet lens manufactured by Merz, boasting an aperture of 11,4 cm and a focal length of 170 cm. Despite its capabilities, the instrument remained underutilized for the first forty years of its existence. This was largely due to the disinterest of the Observatory directors during that period, who did their main work in geodesy rather than in positional astronomy.

The instrument only realized its full potential when Hugo Gyldén assumed the role of Academy astronomer in 1871, effectively concluding the preceding geodetic era. Under Gyldén’s leadership, an ambitious zone project aiming at measuring the proper motions of 2000 northerly stars was conceived. The project would engage the observatory astronomers for over fifty years. The meridian circle eventually saw retirement when the Observatory relocated to a new, state-of-the-art facility in Saltsjöbaden in 1931. However, it found a new purpose as a training instrument and remained in use for many years to come.

In this paper, I will focus on the instrument's trajectory until its relocation to Saltsjöbaden, highlighting the many links that formed its chain of operation. Starting with technical links such as clocks and recording devices, I will move on to the human resources involved, including assistants and computers. Subsequently, I will delve into the scientific links, such as necessary star catalogues, before concluding with an examination of how the instrument was linked to society at large, particularly in the realms of geodetics and time signalling.

Creating Observatory Time at Dartmouth College in the 1860-70s.
Author: Richard Kremer
Part of the “observatory movement” in the United States, Dartmouth College’s Shattuck Observatory opened in 1853 with a 6.4-inch refractor by Merz & Mahler of Munich, a 4-inch transit telescope by Troughton & Simms of London, and an astronomical regulator by Utzschneider and Fraunhofer, also of Munich. But with only human (rather than mechanical) links between the clock and the transit telescope, the new observatory could correlate clock and sky time only to a precision of about a second. In this paper, I will examine how Charles A. Young, appointed professor of natural philosophy of astronomy at Dartmouth in 1866, sought to create observatory time by linking a seconds-beating clock electromagnetically to what he called a “printing chronograph” and to the finger of the astronomer “observing” transits. Surviving archival materials provide detailed views into Young’s efforts to build a reliable “operating chain” (Gressot) of pendula, clockworks, electromagnetic coils, mechanical governors, human sensory systems, observatory couches, and seeing conditions. Yet by 1877, when he departed Dartmouth for Princeton, Young had not reached his goal of timing celestial motions to hundredths of a second.

Time Services and Observatories: A Study Case of the Brazilian National Observatory.
Author: Sabina Luz
The time services at observatories were a daily activity that had to be continued for the purpose of keeping the time and, also, its precision. The instruments and methods employed were similar even in different contexts, countries, and cultures. However, the particularities of each observatory and its political, social, and cultural differences are important elements to be considered at the analyses of the scientific practices at time services in observatories. In this paper I will examine the time service at the National Observatory of Brazil at the first decade of 20th century. The time service was one of the main activities of this institution and it was connected to time transmission to Rio de Janeiro’s harbor. This service was provided by an active participation of mariners since the 19th century. The main instruments used for time calculation were a transit telescope by Dollond (256 x 169 x 97 cm) with 7 cm aperture, acquired in 1851 by the Observatory and used until 1920; a pendulum clock number 101 by Auguste Fénon, acquired probably in 1889; and several chronometers from different instrument makers, but all European. The instruments, the practices and the workers at the observatory will be analyzed in order to understand how an operating chain was established at this institution. Finally, the quest for precision at the astronomical time measurements and time keeping at this observatory will also be investigated not only as an element of the scientific practice but also as an aspect of advertising and scientific authority.

Session Chair: Johan Kärnfelt (Göteborgs universitet, Sweden)

Instruments and environmental change: applied geophysics at the Science Museum
Author: Alexandra Rose
In 1931, a special temporary exhibition at the Science Museum in London showcased an array of instruments for applied geophysics: seismic, magnetic, electrical and gravitational devices for oil and mineral prospecting. The exhibition’s curator, Herman Shaw, obtained an array of cutting-edge precision equipment for the displays, some not yet proven in the field; alongside these he reinterpreted existing artefacts in the Museum’s collection to present a narrative of technological development. In the context of an energy transition that was seeing a shift from coal to oil as an energy source, the exhibition was timely, and it also aligned with the objectives of the Museum’s governors to serve better the needs of industry. The exhibition was not merely a standalone display: it reflected the central and active role the Museum played in cultivating and promoting the new field of applied geophysics in Britain, resulting from the campaigns of politically-engaged scientists.

The topic of fossil fuel extraction, and the matter of how museums can effect social and environmental change, both have renewed pertinence today as the world faces an unprecedented climate crisis. This paper concludes by raising some open questions that will be the focus of planned future research. How might we reckon with the complex environmental legacies that some instruments – such as geophysical prospecting instruments – have left? Can historic, as well as contemporary, scientific instruments be mobilised by museums in their programmes of public engagement around the climate and environment? Could these collections even effect positive environmental change?

Attributing Precision to William Thomson’s Invention of Electrometry
Author: Daniel Jon Mitchell
The history of physics in Victorian Britain has given rise to two main socio-historiographical approaches concerning the origin of consensus about the precision of measurements: “centers of calculation” associated most closely with Schaffer and Latour, and “networks of trust” advocated in response by Gooday. The traditional opposition between these approaches, namely the role of trust and authority in the social processes that constitute precise measurement, masks an important point of agreement: “precision” is an attribute that emerges as a result of the successful assembly of chain of expertise, materials, instruments, procedures, and standards. Thus the precision of an instrument is made contingent upon extrinsic factors, to such an extent that calling an instrument “precise” lies somewhere between jumping the gun and making a category mistake.

This conclusion does not seem right. From a museological and a scientific viewpoint, there is something intuitive about ascribing precision to an instrument. In this paper, I explore the extent to which this intuition can be recaptured while preserving the insights of networks-of-trust and centers-of-calculation historiographies. I do so by returning to their origin in the history of Victorian physics through a study of William Thomson’s “precision” electrometers. I consider the extent to which the issue is a substantive or a semantic one, especially insofar as actors’ categories are involved. Previously neglected, the case merits careful consideration: Thomson was probably the most prolific and important inventor of so-called precision electrical measuring devices during the nineteenth century.

Breaking the Technological Monopoly: Initiating the Localization of Measuring Instruments through the UTD2000 Digital Oscilloscope
Author: Nianci Wang
Co-Authors: Ke Zhao, Deli Chen, Hongyin Lv
The invention of measuring instruments marks a pivotal shift for human beings from perceptual cognition to quantitative analysis. Since the 20^th century, electronic measuring instruments have been the key for gauging a nation’s scientific and technological prowess. In 2006, UNI-T, a Chinese firm seeking transformation, cooperated with the Institute of Electronic Testing Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. The cooperation results in the development of the UTD2000 digital storage oscilloscope within a year. With a bandwidth of 200 MHz and a price of 300 euros per unit – one tenth of the international counterparts, Agilent and Tektronix – the UTD2000 quickly penetrated the China market. It catered to applications requiring bandwidths below 500MHz with sales of 30000 units per year. Notably, it became one of the earliest Chinese electronic measuring instrument exported to Europe, Brazil, and beyond.

In the transition of scientific research to market-ready products, the monopoly of technology becomes apparent, with technology serving as the key competitive asset. Established companies erect barriers, hindering newcomers through technical obstacles. When new companies manage to overcome these technology barriers, they still face the challenge of dealing with the low price set by the established ones. This research looks at how the UTD2000, a Chinese electronic measuring instrument, went from being developed to being sold internationally in the 2000s. It examines the decisions made by companies, government policies, and market fluctuations. Ultimately, it explores how scientific instruments can shake up the dominance of established companies, leading to innovations in a region.

The Keepers of Time / Historic Schools for Watchmakers in North America
Author: Gary Fox
By the mid 1880’s The American watch manufacturing industry was producing over 750,000 watches annually and given their mechanized processes, that number was increasing exponentially every year.
Producing over 2,000,000 watches annually, the Swiss industry believed there was little to fear from the American upstarts, until it was too late to see the looming change.  However, the Swiss industry recognized the need for trained watchmakers to maintain and repair the watches they produced long before their American counterparts. Schools were opened where the students learned not just how to repair a broken part but why the parts were designed as they were.
In the Americas, watchmakers were trained through apprenticeships and mentorships, a lengthy process with often dubious results. The result? There simply weren’t enough skilled watchmakers to meet the need.
The call went out for horological schools where a student could learn more in a year than in three years as an apprentice. But was anyone listening? James Parsons was.
This is the story of:

• the first school for watchmakers in North America – Parsons Horological Institute opened by James Root Parsons in La Porte, Indiana in 1886;
• the first school for watchmakers in Canada – The Canadian Horological Institute opened by Henry Richard Playtner in Toronto, Ontario in 1890, and;
• the Elgin Watchmakers’ College, started in 1922 by Playtner and funded by the Elgin National Watch Company.

Session Chair: Sabina Luz (UNIRIO, Brazil)

Dé-instrumentaliser l’instrument scientifique: l’exemple d’un restituteur planimétrique radial au Musée de la civilisation
Auteur: Valérie Bouchard
Pour un musée de société comme le Musée de la civilisation, le collectionnement d’objets scientifiques ne va pas toujours de soi, ces objets étant souvent associés à des institutions dont la mission est d’emblée scientifique. Pourtant, les innovations et développements technologiques et scientifiques ne surviennent pas en vase clos, mais sont au contraire étroitement liés à des préoccupations, à des intérêts ou à des besoins sociaux.

C’est dans cette perspective et dans la posture pratique qu’est celle d’une conservatrice de musée que cette communication propose de réinterroger l’instrument scientifique, à partir de l’exemple d’un restituteur planimétrique radial associé à la compagnie Donohue et récemment acquis par le Musée de la civilisation. Cette communication sera l’occasion d’explorer des pistes de mise en valeur d’un tel instrument, en allant au-delà de son cadre strictement fonctionnel, pour aborder plutôt ses dimensions historiques et sociales et les échos qu’il peut avoir pour les publics du Musée aujourd’hui. De cette approche émergera non seulement le caractère polysémique de cet instrument, mais également des questionnements plus larges sur les frontières de l’objet scientifique. Ces réflexions permettront ainsi d’envisager la manière dont le musée de société peut contribuer à jeter un nouvel éclairage sur la conservation et la diffusion du patrimoine scientifique.

Upgrading Scientific Instruments Over Time Towards a Culture of Precision: Case studies from Coimbra University
Author: Pedro Júlio Enrech Casaleiro
Co-Author: Fábio Monteiro
The Coimbra Observatory houses an impressive collection of scientific instruments, ranging from astronomy and geodesy from the Royal Astronomical Observatory of the University of Coimbra since 1772, to meteorology, magnetism and seismology from the Geophysical Institute since 1864. This collection reflects the scientific endeavours throughout the history of the institutions, intertwined with the progress of science, dependent on its key figures (scientists, professors, staff), as well as the fluctuations of university administration, national governance and global influence. Both institutions were founded during periods of scientific vitality that paved the way for new paths in science, culminating in the current collections.

The research began with a comprehensive analysis of the collections, identifying trends in acquisitions over time, to serve the research and teaching endeavours of the University of Coimbra, with the aim of increasing the accuracy and precision of the data. This is followed by a more detailed examination of case studies of astronomical position and time instruments. It identifies the criteria and acquisition framework of these instruments, taking into account institutional dynamics, personnel and the use of new instruments. This project is based on the study of objects through documentary research in the university archives and libraries.

Acknowledgements: The CQC–IMS is supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), through the projects UI0313B/QUI/2020 (DOI: 10.54499/UIDB/00313/2020), UI0313P/QUI/2020 (DOI: 10.54499/UIDP/00313/2020), and LA/P/0056/2020.

The ‘Kosmic Clock’ – A Rare and Valuable Artifact
Author: Ray Springer
Introduction
The traditional definition of local time
The Industrial Revolution and the rise in railroad travel in North America - issues
A tipping point in 1865

Examples of proposed time framework solutions
Sandford Fleming’s 24 hour day and ‘Cosmic Time’
The International Meridian Conference (IMC) of 1884 - a prime meridian

The ‘Kosmic’ Clock
Post IMC, 3 clock patents were obtained by inventor Martin V. B. Ethridge
6 ‘Kosmic’ Clocks manufactured by the E. Howard Clock Co., Boston
‘Kosmic’ features: patented 24 hour Ethridge dial, spindles and an additional hand
One ‘Kosmic’ sent to the Royal Canadian Institute (for Science) by Mr. E. Waite

Outcomes
Sandford Fleming supported the IMC proposal
Fleming did not endorse the ‘Kosmic’ however …

Conclusion
The ‘Kosmic’ Clock is a rare and valuable artifact. The context of its creation helps to better understand the journey towards a new model for local time and the implementation of a Prime Meridian and international time zones

Restoration
The ‘Kosmic’ Clock was restored by Dan Hudon, Master Clock Restorer of the Ottawa Valley Watch and Clock Club and his assistant Andrea Gilpin
Ray Springer
OVWCC Treasurer 2012-2022

A Torsion Balance in the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona
Author: Júlia Garcia de la Torre
FFUB-0291 is one of the hundreds of instruments in the collection of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona. This torsion balance, built by french manufacturer Pixii, arrived in the University of Barcelona in 1847 within the frame of 'Pla Pidal', an education reform approved in 1845.  

Its form and history have been shaped by its scientific and historical contexts: from its role as an agent of modernisation of the Spanish educational system to its function within lectures of establishing experimentation as the only path to true knowledge. By the creation of its biography and the replication of its use, I have studied the possible links between the apparatus and its historical and scientific contexts, as well as contributed to the controversy surrounding Coulomb's experiment.

Session Chair: Peggy Kidwell (Smithsonian Institution, USA)

Dr. Margarita Piedra as Cuba's first female nuclear engineer. Her role in the development and training of nuclear science in Cuba.
Author: Lubia Díaz Bernal
Co-Author: Lidia Lauren Elías Hardy
Cuba has historically been characterized by its sexist culture and that is why Cuban women have worked hard towards the recognition of their equal rights. This paper aims to highlight the figure of women in the field of nuclear sciences, through the visibility of the first Cuban woman trained in Nuclear Engineering in Cuba and the USSR. Having graduated in Cuba in 1971, Piedra traveled to Moscow to complete her training at the Energy Institute of said city, in the department of Electro-Nuclear Power Plants. She was the only woman in a group of seven men, where the young and enterprising Margarita, due to her great talent and ability, appeared on the cover of the magazine “USSR” as an example of the Cuban female scientist. Creator of the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory within a young institution dedicated to teaching nuclear sciences in Cuba (InSTEC) in which she worked until her death in 2020. Due to the impossibility of obtaining adequate or advanced instruments for teaching, she developed glass instruments and installations so that students could observe the phenomena of heat and mass transfer, and fluid mechanics. Dr. Margarita Piedra was and continues to be the example to follow. continue for the brave and still rare Cuban women who have chosen to channel their lives into the world of nuclear technical sciences.

A Countess and her astrolabe at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900: social and intellectual capital at the turn of the century
Author: Sumner Braund
Why did the Comtesse de Lespinasse submit an astrolabe to the Musée rétrospectif de la classe 15: instruments de précision at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris?

The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 was designed to surpass all previous expos, and it attracted an estimated 50 million visitors in the course of its 8-month run. The city was transformed through new building projects, some permanent and others temporary, with extensive pavilions covering the city. The high profile of certain exhibitions, enhanced by the social status of their respective organisers, meant that these organisers not only curated displays – they also curated the social capital of objects and donors.

This paper will explore the ways in which Louise Marie Robertine Maillard de Liscourt, Comtesse de Lespinasse, navigated this environment and successfully displayed her astrolabe. The astrolabe that she submitted to Classe 15 had been made in 1227/8 CE for an Ayyubid ruler and nephew of Saladin. The magnificent instrument’s inclusion in Classe 15 raises many questions, including: why did the Comtesse choose this classe? What does this reveal about the status of women in this social and intellectual environment? What did it mean in this space for a French woman to assert physical and intellectual ownership of an instrument from the Islamic world?

This paper will address these questions using correspondence and notarial records from the Lespinasse family, the published records of the Classe 15, and the sale records of the astrolabe (which was sold to another collector, Lewis Evans, in 1911).

Women computers at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1890–1939
Author: Louise Devoy
In April 1890, Astronomer Royal William H. M. Christie (1845-1922) hired the first group of women to be employed in professional astronomy at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Although this initial cohort only stayed for a few years, it set the trend for the ongoing recruitment of women who became an essential part of the Observatory’s staff.

Using archive materials and recently discovered observing notebooks, I will examine the women’s contribution through various questions: how did their roles compare to those of their male colleagues at Greenwich, particularly with respect to the use of instruments? Were they acknowledged in the same way in official publications? How did their experience at Greenwich shape their career and opportunities elsewhere?

These questions will be addressed across three main time periods, starting with the appointment of the ‘lady computers’ in the 1890s, who were ostensibly hired to make observations to facilitate the Observatory’s participation in the Astrographic Catalogue but who also became involved with other departments and instruments.

The second phase considers the First World War period when a few women were either recruited or invited to return to their previous roles as volunteers in response to the vacancies created by the call-up of male staff for military service.

Finally, I will consider the small group of women recruited as ‘Supernumerary Computers’ during the inter-war years who were assigned a variety of computing and data analysis roles.

The anatomical Venus models as epistemic instruments: value influences in the representation of women in science
Author: Alexandra Karakas
The history of science is rich in debates centred around problems concerning material culture and its relation to knowledge production. However, the issue of epistemic/internal and non-epistemic/external values in the sciences is still developing. While contemporary debates surrounding the presence of external and internal values in different phases of the production of scientific knowledge offer a great source of insight, the history of science is still overloaded with instances of value pluralism within physical instruments that are yet to be discussed.

A particularly interesting category of instruments are objects used for representing the female body. A prominent example of these are anatomical models, notably pieces made in Felice Fontana's workshop in Florence in the 18th century. While the functions of material models were diverse, from knowledge dissemination to entertaining, the peculiarity lies in that they were designed with not only internal scientific values in mind, such as clarity and coherence, but they were influenced by external values, such as artistic values, at the same time. These value-laden decisions led to a unique representation of the female body that mirrors the period’s take on social and scientific issues as well. The talk focuses on a lesser-known Fontana model initially commissioned by Joseph II for the newly founded medical academy in Vienna, which was later gifted to the medical faculty in Budapest. The research details the model's rich history and emphasises how external, artistic values determined many representational decisions, resulting in a peculiar visual portrayal of womanhood in the 18th century.

Women assistants using scientific instruments in Tartu before and after World War Two
Author: Janet Laidla
More women entered the staff of universities and other research institutions at the end of 19th and the beginning of the 20th century as calculators, demonstrators and assistants. These assistant positions may have encompassed many different things: from mostly clerical work (typing, correspondence), teaching duties, assisting the researchers, conducting individual research, to keeping libraries and taking care of collections. This also depended from one faculty to another.

The main goal of this presentation is to reveal how many assistants at Tartu had any contact with scientific instruments based on the institutional archival materials and papers from scientific journals. In Athens I briefly introduced one of the women assistants at the astronomical observatory who used a small telescope. How many more examples can we find? We know, for example, that assistants working at the faculty of medicine w

Session Chair: Richard Kremer (Dartmouth College, USA)

Man, Machine or both? Reconsidering the precision of stereoscopic rangefinders
Author: Andreas Junk
The precision of rangefinders can be considered to be depending from the components of the instruments, which are used for distance measurements. This is particularly true for rangefinders as devised by Pacecco ab Ucedos (1762) or Georg Brander (1781). But those instruments are developed to be in a state, where a more or less untrained observer can easily adjust the settings and make a readout of the result. What if the operator with his unique set of experiences and training becomes a part of the instrument? Or maybe even worse: what if the operator's physiological limits also set an operational limit for the instrument?

The stereoscopic rangefinder of the Zeiss company, first presented as a measurement concept in 1899 on a model provided by the then-deceased Hector de Grousilliers, is based on Helmholtz's telestereoscopic design from 1857 and works with stereoscopic triangular distance marks. For both of these reasons, the operator's physiology plays an important role in determining a correct readout of the distance. Hence the question arises, if an instrument, which is prone to the imperfections of its human operator, can be considered a precision measurement device.

When precision is not a virtue: three forensic science objects where persuasiveness is the most important metric.
Author: Kristen Frederick-Frost
Three artifacts—a display of arsenic tests from the 1872 trial of Lydia Sherman, John Larson’s 1921 cardio-pneumo-psychogram for lie detection, and a sexual assault examination kit from the early 1980s—used precision in process, presentation, and procedure to validate investigative analyses. We can also consider how these objects were not just tools of systematic study but products of their maker’s beliefs about what was needed to make their work convincing beyond the science itself.

Professor George Frederick Barker’s shotgun approach to the presentation of arsenic tests invites us to think about how a previous poisoning case featuring warring medical experts created a perceived need to give the jury multiple types of chemical analyses for several victims. John Larson’s lie detector had to balance perceptions of two different audiences—that of the suspect and that of the fact finder. For the former, Larson needed to create an emotional response, ideally a suspect’s fear and anxiety. For the latter, Larson wanted to create an objective paper record that stood on its own outside of an interrogation. And the Vitullo sexual assault kit found acceptance because one of its creators, Marty Goddard, immersed herself in the reticence of police and medical professionals alike to investigate these crimes. The contents of this early kit, as well as those that follow, represent a negotiation between what various communities found necessary and worthy.

Each of these objects is a manifestation of a maker’s desire to be more than precise. They wanted to be persuasive.

Post-Earthquake Pioneer: The Application of the Low Altitude Remote Sensing System on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Author: Zhao Ke
Co-Authors: Congting Hao, Deli Chen
On May 12, 2008, a powerful earthquake at 8.0 Ms hit Wenchuan, a mountainous area in western Sichuan, China. Nearby, amounts of “quake lakes” formed by severe landslide, threatening the people living downstream. On May 13, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China assembled a volunteer group with six institutions. They brought a low-altitude remote sensing system on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to Wenchuan to help. The UAV was capable of a 200-kilometer range in two hours, with wooden structure and a 38cc gasoline engine. The remote sensing instrument could take 0.2 m solution photos from 1000 meters above. They inspected the landslide dam-created Tangjiashan Lake, providing the data and rendered photo to the Prime Minister as a command. It helped the government to take measures to discharge flood from the dam bursting and evacuated people from downstream Mianyang City with a 5 million population. During 12 days, they detected over 100 rivers with the instrument, and gathered data of 34 risky lakes.

This study traces the instrument’s historical application in disaster contexts. Although the remote sensing instrument lacked groundbreaking technological innovations, its practicability surpassed other counterparts. In metrology, advancing both frontier research and translating it into engineering products is paramount. The system's deployment underscores the pivotal role of precision scientific instruments in informing decision-making during crises, emphasizing the necessity for a dual focus on theoretical advancement and practical application in scientific research.

Session Chair: Trienke van der Spek (Teylers Museum, Netherlands)

Songs of the Bowhead Whale: tracing the origins of marine mammal acoustic science in the Arctic through a collection of hydrophone artifacts
Author: Tom Everrett
In August, 1970, American biologist Roger Payne released “Songs of the Humpback Whale.” It would go on to become the highest selling environmental album in history and contribute to a flurry of popular and scientific interest in whale vocalizations. Over the course of the 1970s, marine mammal acoustics would develop from a niche area of inquiry into an established scientific discipline, attracting researchers from around the world. At the heart of this work was the humble hydrophone: a microphone adapted for underwater listening and recording. It is with this tool that scientists learned to listen to marine wildlife, record their acoustic environments, and develop improved means for tracking their movement across vast oceans. In Canada, Chester Beachell was among the first to develop hydrophone technology for documentary and marine wildlife applications. Through the 1970s, while working as an engineer at the National Film Board of Canada, he developed hydrophone equipment for a variety of purposes and locations: from the warm waters of the Caribbean to the frigid waters of the Canadian High Arctic. In this presentation, I will describe what Beachell’s artifacts and archival documents might tell us about the development of marine mammal acoustic science in the 1970s – a field in which he remains virtually unknown today. I will focus specifically on Beachell’s work in the Northwest Territories and northern Alaska between 1972 and 1974, during which time he participated in scientific expeditions, designed bespoke hydrophone equipment for use in extreme conditions, and captured what might be the first ever recording of a Bowhead whale’s “song.”

Interpreting color and measuring light: Precision in diabetic glucose analysis
Author: Elizabeth Neswald
For much of the 20^th century color indicators were used to show urine sugar and, later, blood glucose levels to diagnose and monitor diabetes. Whether Benedict’s solution in a test tube or glucose oxidase on a test strip, shades of color corresponded to glucose concentration. Despite numerous attempts to create color standards for these tests, which were primarily used by physicians and patients, they could, at best, be described as semi-quantitative. Difficulties with reproducing colors for the scales, gaps between color scale “units”, and the effect of ambient lighting pointed to problems that arose from making color material. The most intractable problem was the variability of human visual perception. Colors and eyes were not precise enough tools of measurement. In addition, the question of what was precise enough changed, as approaches to diabetes management demanded ever tighter glucose control.

In the second half of the 20th century, Instruments based on photocells were introduced into biochemistry and physician and patient testing regimens in part in response to these problems. This paper shows how dissatisfaction with these semi-quantitative methods and distrust in the visual capacity of test users drove both the adoption of photoelectric registration methods and the automation of the testing process. The aim was to replace both measurement techniques and testing regimens that were considered imprecise and human-error-prone with methods deemed more “objective”. Through photoelectric colorimeters, reflectance photometers, and automatic analysis apparatus, human agency was removed from the testing and interpretation process.

Suppression of Self-Noise in Stepping Correlator Channel Sounders: A Cautionary Tale
Author: David G. Michelson
Accurate characterization of the wireless environment has long been key to designing and deploying effective wireless communications systems. The introduction of the sliding correlator channel sounder by Cox in the early 1970’s helped to transform such characterization from an art into a science. By the 1990’s, advances in digital technology made it possible to introduce the stepping correlator channel sounder and thereby overcome some key limitations of the earlier instrument. While most of the behaviour and limitations of the stepping correlator channel sounder were well-predicted by theory, the existence of spurious responses or ‘self-noise’ was an ongoing concern. Many authors offered explanations for why such self-noise was occurring and suggestions for how it could be suppressed. We attempted to verify the authors’ conclusions by replicating their setups and conducting experiments, but were unsuccessful.

Our conclusion: Reviewers and editors had done science a disservice by forcing authors to idly and incorrectly speculate concerning the causes of observed behaviour. Once reported in the literature, and cited by authors who were in turn cited by other authors, myths die hard. Moreover, none of these authors seemed to be aware of similar work being conducted by the acoustics community which was often more sophisticated than those employed by wireless researchers. The published literature concerning suppression of self-noise in stepping correlator channel sounders is a cautionary tale that reveals how a process designed to ensure that truth is fully revealed can actually do just the opposite.

Reading Galvanometers: Infrastructure and Instrumental Practice of Electrical Metrology at the University of Toronto
Author: Chen-Pang Yeang; Erich Weidenhammer; Victoria Fisher; Ava Spurr; Patrick Finnigan

Historians of science and technology have explored scientific instruments for their implications to metrology, the concepts of precision, materiality of laboratories, pedagogy, and tacit knowledge. We use the galvanometers as a lens to study the local development of expertise and training in electrical science and technology. Galvanometers were known for their precision in measuring minute electric currents. Integral to industry and science from the mid-19th to the 20th century, these instruments gained prominence as fundamental tools in electrical metrology. Their significance and operational challenges required specialized training in physics and electrical engineering.
In this paper, we inspect a set of historical galvanometers and the teaching of their uses at the University of Toronto. We adopt two materially-oriented methodologies. The first, informed by the Winterthur method of “artifact reading,” examines four historical galvanometers from the University of Toronto Scientific Instruments Collection to trace the development of local metrology and its broader Canadian context. The second, guided by experimental replication and a close reading of curricula and students’ lab notebooks from the University of Toronto Archives, aims to reconstruct the pedagogical practice and embodied skills involving galvanometers. Our study showcases the fruitfulness of materially-engaged methodologies in investigating the laboratory practice, teaching, and material conditions surrounding a ubiquitous measuring instrument at a Canadian university in the 20th century.

Co-author bio notes:
Chen-Pang Yeang is an Associate Professor at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto.